SWALLOW AND HOUSE-MARTIN .*.>; 



ing, she was wont to perch upon a china dish. The new will perched 

 upon the nest Her first act was to set her house in order. She cleaned 

 out the existing nest, carrying away in her beak all the refuse it con- 

 tained, and then, with the aid of her husband, prootodsd to chase 

 out of the room certain other pairs who had the presumption to claim 

 a share in its possession. These were probably the offspring of the 

 first wife, with their mates. A furious fight ensued, sometimes as 

 many as six birds whizzing and battling with deafening noise over the 

 heads ot tin- human occupants. Finally the step-mother remained in 

 poN M ->sion. and reared in peace a I. rood of three. In is'js the cock 

 returned at a later date, the 17th, his mate following on the 23rd. 

 The old nest was again cleaned and one brood reared In 1899 he 

 appeared itiD later, on the 20th, and waited two days, but no wife 

 followed. He then went and sang all distraught upon the neighbouring 

 roof tops, calling her to come. But she came not, and after long 

 waiting, he abandoned hope. On the seventeenth day after his 

 arrival he brought into the nest a new mate, or rather drove her in, 

 fluttering behind her and cutting off her retreat, for she seemed to 

 have been captured by force rather than wooed, and showed it, when 

 he was absent, by taking immediate flight 1 However, she ended by 

 bringing a family of four up to the third week of their existence, 

 when, for some unknown reason, they were found dead in the nest 

 Next year (1900) both returned together on April 22, and success- 

 fully raised a brood of four. At this date the record ends. 



Let us note in passing a case in which a cock swallow, who 

 returned without a mate, found himself eventually in possession of 

 two. The first he sought for, the second presented herself and began 

 a nest on the same beam where the first was incubating her "fflT 

 The cock at once offered his assistance, and helped to complete the 

 nest He did not, however, fail in his duties to his first mate, whom 

 he fed assiduously. Both hens hatched out their young successfully, 



1 Qoee obBerration of matelem cock* may show that they actually succeed in appropriating 



tin- lu-ii- ..t m.tt.-.i I, mi- Thai tli.-> t -.-i laiuly nmkr tin- utt*-ui|<t is -hown <m \> 3*. 



